Trump nominates insider to head Veterans Affairs

Evan Vucci / AP

FILE - In this Jan. 9 file photo, David Shulkin, currently Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Health, leaves a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York. Trump announced Wednesday that he will nominate Shulkin as Veterans Affairs secretary.

FILE - In this Jan. 9 file photo, David Shulkin, currently Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Health, leaves a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York. Trump announced Wednesday that he will nominate Shulkin as Veterans Affairs secretary.

(Evan Vucci / AP)

David J. Shulkin, the current undersecretary for health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, is Donald Trump's pick to head the troubled agency.

Shulkin, a medical doctor, has served in a number of chief executive and physician leadership roles.

His nomination ends a marathon search where Trump interviewed about 100 candidates.

Shulkin won praise from Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

“I am pleased President-elect Trump has chosen a physician to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, especially one familiar with the integrating of private practitioners into the VA's network of health care providers," Roe said in a news release.

Joe Chenelly, executive director of American Veterans, said the organization was "pleasantly surprised" at the pick.

“In the absence of clarity about who was to lead the VA, we grew more than a little concerned that political considerations might undermine veterans’ best interests,”said Chenelly in a news release. “But this wise decision by President-elect Trump validates what we’ve long known and said – that the Veterans Health Administration is on the right track despite a prolonged, concerted smear campaign aimed at dismantling and privatizing veterans care.”

Concerned Veterans of America, a conservative group that has had Trump's ear during the transition, had this to say:

"While Shulkin already holds a leadership position at the VA, as Secretary, he will now have ultimate responsibility over the agency and we are hopeful he will take it in a new direction."

Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said Shulkin's appointment as a non-veteran would be unprecedented.

However, Rieckhoff also said, "We are optimistic about the nomination of Drl. Shulkin by the President-elect. He is well known to us, a man of character and has been a trusted partner of IAVA at VA."